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Sleep, Diet and Exercise: Keys to Weight and Health Management

By Michael McBurney

Alyssa Sparacino, contributor to Health, claims there are 11 health benefits of sleep. WebMD’s R Robin Griffin lists 9 reasons to get more sleep. They include better health, better sex life, less pain and lower risk of injury. A new study finds the list of sleep benefits should also include making healthier food choices.

Kruger and colleagues analyzed cross-sectional data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. In-home interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of American adolescents (n = 14,738) between 1994-2008. Based on records from 13,284, they report that adolescents reporting <7 hr sleep nightly were 34% less likely to consume at least one vegetable and one fruit serving daily than those sleeping >8 hr. They were also more likely to consume fast food. Greater screen time was also associated with less fruit and vegetable consumption. 56% of the adolescents reported consuming at least one vegetable or fruit on the previous day. Well below the recommended 2.5-3 cups of vegetables and 1.5-2 cups of fruit.

Takaoka Y, Kawakami N. Fruit and vegetable consumption in adolescence and health in early adulthood: a longitudinal analysis of the Statistics Canada’s National Population Health Survey. 2013 BMC Public Health doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-1206